It’s Who You Know

Have you heard of six degrees of separation? It is a theory that any two randomly-selected people in the world can connect with six or fewer intermediaries. That means there are only six people (or fewer) between you and anyone you want or need to meet.

With the connections possible through the Internet, it often takes fewer than six connections.

Of course, the trick can be figuring out who those people are. The key to making links is that each of us belongs to many communities and has friends and acquaintances who span a number of groups. Thus, it is possible to make random connections between people, but you can also use this idea to make a targeted connection.

Let’s say you want to reach the CEO of a major corporation. Do you know someone who works there? Someone who is a vendor or supplier? Where did the CEO go to school—do you know anyone else who went there? Do you know someone who lives in the same town? If not, who do you know who might know someone who fits any of these categories?

Let the people around you know that you are trying to reach this person. You probably don’t know everyone they know. Your friend or co-worker may have a connection you never would have imagined. I watched this work at a conference. The speaker got a few people to ask the group for help contacting someone they wanted to reach. Within moments, connections had been made to several people, including a former US president!

Perhaps you are hoping for a product endorsement, a chance to get someone involved in your cause, a blurb for your book, or an appointment to do a presentation. Whatever your need, if you are creative and persistent, you can reach the people you need to reach.